Chapter 18

"Well," Merlyn admitted. "If you have a robe. Or maybe a pair of jeans and a shirt I could borrow. I could return them tomorrow. After laundering, of course."

He laughed. It was a wonderful, generous, throaty laugh. It made his large adam's apple bob excitedly up and down.

"Merlyn," he said. "Stop being so fucking formal!"

Somehow, the word didn't sound threatening or vulgar coming from him. It sounded friendly, as if he had taken an instant liking to her and was willing to let his guard down.

He picked up a cellphone and spoke a word into it.

"Lena."

When the person responded, he spoke briefly, his voice pitched so low she could barely hear him even though he was three feet away. He was one of those men who, despite having a loud, powerful voice, could still speak so intimately, you feel as if you're the only other person in the room, or the world. Merlyn had always found that ability to modulate one's voice powerfully arousing in a man.

"Come," he said, taking her elbow. As he touched her, there was a small crackle between her dress and her skin. She started.

"Static electricity," he explained. "Some people tend to accumulate too much. I confess to being one of them. Synthetic fabrics," he gestured at her dress, "react more violently than natural ones. I aggravated it by touching the fabric earlier."

She didn't know how to respond to that, so she stayed silent while he led her through a doorway and along a long, winding passageway that seemed to curve endlessly to the right in a large arc. She glanced to the right as they walked and was startled to see that she was looking at what seemed to be a large bathhouse. There was a large indoor swimming pool in the center of the room, with a dozen or so small jacuzzi-type circular pools set around it.

Steam rose from several of these, giving the whole place a smoky, steamy atmosphere. The fact that all the occupants, both male and female, were wearing virtually nothing, added to the steaminess. Then again, it would be absurd to expect people to be dressed in suits in a swimming area!

"A one-way mirror," he explained to her, leading her along the passage. "For security reasons." He tapped on the glass as he walked on. "That's One's Company."

A moment later, as they passed through another door, he tapped on it again: "That's CyberSingles." She had a glimpse of a very elaborate futuristic place that resembled a sci-fi city street. She thought she saw a man who looked familiar, but then they passed through another doorway and she lost sight of him.

"Bikini Bowlarama," he called out. Bright, fluorescent colours, bikinis galore, people having a ball, literally!